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Rachel Hall

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Sep 15, 2020, 12:41:30 PM9/15/20
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The round in the rudiments, "Welcome, welcome every guest," appears on the title page of Oliver Brownson's Select Harmony (1783). Has anyone found it in an earlier work? It's not cataloged in The Makers, The Hymn Tune Index, or the Easmes database.


Here's a version in impressive shape note typography:

Fynn Titford-Mock

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Sep 15, 2020, 6:52:03 PM9/15/20
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It's by William Tansur, and appears in his Elements of Musick Display'd (1766), and probably in a few other Tans'ur publications too. He names himself as the author, and includes a rather bibulous second verse.


The text is based on an anonymous poem set to music by John Blow in his Amphion Anglicus (1700) - "Welcome, welcome, ev'ry guest, welcome to the Muses' feast", it's the first song in the book.

best,

Fynn

From: fasola-di...@googlegroups.com <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Rachel Hall <rachelw...@gmail.com>
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Subject: [fasola-discussions] Welcome, welcome every guest
 
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Warren Steel

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Sep 15, 2020, 7:36:49 PM9/15/20
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Scripsit Finn:

It's by William Tansur, and appears in his Elements of Musick Display'd (1766), and probably in a few other Tans'ur publications too. He names himself as the author, and includes a rather bibulous second verse.
Here is the 1772 edition: https://archive.org/details/elementsofmusick00tans/page/118/mode/1up
The text is based on an anonymous poem set to music by John Blow in his Amphion Anglicus (1700) - "Welcome, welcome, ev'ry guest, welcome to the Muses' feast", it's the first song in the book.

Thanks so much, Fynn. It is much as I suspected. See the 2010 discussion at https://groups.google.com/g/fasola-discussions/c/IJo4kNaVYKk/m/FlSySjC0SV0J We know that Jenks had a copy of one of Tansur's collections, now in the Newberry Library. I suspect Stephen St. John got it from him or from Brownson.
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Wade Kotter

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Sep 16, 2020, 8:32:25 AM9/16/20
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In case anyone is curious, you can see John Blow's setting here; about as far away from Tans'ur's "Invitation" Canzone as one can get.

https://archive.org/details/amphionanglicusw00blow/page/n25/mode/2up

Wade

Wade Kotter
South Ogden, UT
"Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord"



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Wade Kotter

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Sep 17, 2020, 10:20:35 AM9/17/20
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Just noticed two things that may or may not be of interest to some of you. 

First, I began leafing through the music in Tans'ur's Elements of Musick Display'd immediately following "The Invitation" and noticed that while most are claimed by William Tans'ur senior at least two are attributed  to W. T. Jun. or W. T. Junior. I'm guessing this means that the famous William Tans'ur had a son also named William he was at least an avocational composer. Not surprising, I guess, but i'm guessing Junior's musical career, if he had one, was not much to speak of.

Second, I'd be interested to know where the engraving shown in this image comes from (the link given as a source in the Wikipedia Commons info doesn't work):

I can't make much out of the music due to the low image resolution, bit I don't think it's the canon in question. Anyway, it certainly looks to me like a precursor both to Brownson's title page and the famous Paul Revere engraving used as the frontispiece for Billing's The New-England Psalm-Singer (1770):


Unless my memory is completely faulty, we know that Billings had access to some of Tans'ur's publications..

Wade

Wade Kotter
South Ogden, UT
"Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord"
On Tuesday, September 15, 2020, 05:36:49 PM MDT, Warren Steel <mu...@olemiss.edu> wrote:



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Wade Kotter

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Sep 17, 2020, 10:20:36 AM9/17/20
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Some more examples of engravings from Tans'ur's publications similar to those of Billings and Brownson:


And here's his "Invitation" canon from his 1756 A new musical grammar, and dictionary

https://archive.org/details/newmusicalgramma0000tans/page/112/mode/2up

Wade Kotter
South Ogden, UT
"Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord"

Fulton, Erin

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Sep 17, 2020, 11:32:52 AM9/17/20
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From the Grove article on Tans'ur: "His son, also named William Tans'ur, was a chorister at Trinity College, Cambridge, on which flimsy pretext the father signed some of his prefaces ‘University of Cambridge’."

I think the image may match the frontispiece of Elements of Musick Displayed, or, Its Grammar or Ground-Work Made Easy, Rudimental, Practical, Philosophical, Historical, and Technical (London: Stanley Crowder, 1772). If so, it is cropped a little. The illustration apparently dates from no earlier than 1770, so that significantly narrows down the books in which it could first appear. We have a copy of the '72 Elements of Music Displayed at the Special Collections Research Center at UK. I was assigned that volume for a history of theory class at one point and took down a detailed description, but don't have any photos:

"One engraving, just bef. [i]. This is done on the thicker flyleaf paper and has copperplate impression. Portrait, rather awkward, of Tans'ur from head to chest with VERY wide-set eyes, surrounded by "A Canon: Four in one." The title has above it a banner ("GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO") held up by a putto on either side. Canon loops around the portrait. "LORD, tune my Heart within my Breast / And frame it to thy Holy Will: / And let thy Spirit within me rest [doesn't scan!] / Which may my Soul with Comfort Fill." In treble clef, triple time, A major--unfamiliar. Beginning of the canon marked not only with double bars between each section but also a segno rendered .S.. Below this, a banner reading "Mr. WILLIAM TANS'UR. / AEtatis suae [with the A turned backwards!] 70. Christi, 1770." In the middle of this is a kind of incomprehensible sketchy thing that I think is supposed to be the top half of a harp with a crown above it (invoking David???). Right below that, kind of supporting the banner with the age and name, is a coat of arms. The very top band reads MUSICO. The rest of the edge has little straight lines filling it up lengthwise and a series of circles with asterisk-type dingbat decorations. The field is divided into three lengthwise. The topmost has three pen-nibs (I think?) interspersed with two quills. Second has something like little fat daggers or underdeveloped fleurs-de-lis. The third looks like an ermine pattern, three vertical and diagonal splotches sort of the shape of aspen leaves. The whole oval portrait-banner-harp-coat of arms complex is shown sitting on or in front of a pedestal-type thing, heavily crosshatched, as is the whole background. The music and banners pop out for being bright white; the portrait itself is the very darkest, with much finer crosshatching, especially the background behind the head. Under the pedestal, ANOTHER banner: "Here Verse, and Musick, in one Soul unite: / To GOD's true Glory, and His Saints [sic] Delight." The manner of writing here is rather different and looks like an older style of typography than the body of the book. The entirety surrounded by a double-lined border with diagonal hatches in each corner, like a picture frame. Outside the border to the left it reads in italics: "Edwd. Newtun Junr. delin." The only other decorations in the book consist of occasional use of dingbats, including a fairly exotic floral one enclosing the title page." The "Scale of Notes" on 10 is extremely crude by contrast (woodcut?), as is the illustration of pendula stretching most of the way down 60."


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Wade Kotter

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Sep 17, 2020, 12:47:32 PM9/17/20
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Thanks, Erin.I included this link in another message::

https://archive.org/details/psalmsingersjewe00tans/page/n3/mode/1up

It comes from his 1760 The Psalm-Singer's Jewel and is a close match to the Wikipedia image, which is cropped as you noticed. If you zoom in you'll see that it's dated 1760 in the text near the bottom just below his last name.

Also, thanks for the info on W. T. Jr.- I did intend to check out the Tans'ur article in Grove but hadn't gotten around to it. Tans'ur was certainly not adverse to self promotion at the engravings and his "University of Cambridge" claim.

Wade

Wade Kotter
South Ogden, UT
"Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord"


On Thursday, September 17, 2020, 09:30:22 AM MDT, Fulton, Erin <erinf...@uky.edu> wrote:


From the Grove article on Tans'ur: "His son, also named William Tans'ur , was a chorister at Trinity College, Cambridge, on which flimsy pretext the father signed some of his prefaces ‘University of Cambridge’."

Paul Robinson

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Sep 20, 2020, 1:43:50 PM9/20/20
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> And let thy Spirit within me rest [doesn't scan!]

One of my church choirs, years ago, did something Renaissance-y with a scansion issue like this.  The director claimed pronouncing it as "Sp'rit" (one syllable) was the way to go.  It did fix the scansion, and he seemed to think there was historical basis for doing it that way.
--paulr

On 09/17/2020 11:30 AM Fulton, Erin <erinf...@uky.edu> wrote:


From the Grove article on Tans'ur: "His son, also named William Tans'ur, was a chorister at Trinity College, Cambridge, on which flimsy pretext the father signed some of his prefaces ‘University of Cambridge’."

I think the image may match the frontispiece of Elements of Musick Displayed, or, Its Grammar or Ground-Work Made Easy, Rudimental, Practical, Philosophical, Historical, and Technical (London: Stanley Crowder, 1772) . If so, it is cropped a little. The illustration apparently dates from no earlier than 1770, so that significantly narrows down the books in which it could first appear. We have a copy of the '72 Elements of Music Displayed at the Special Collections Research Center at UK. I was assigned that volume for a history of theory class at one point and took down a detailed description, but don't have any photos:

Steve Nickolas

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Sep 20, 2020, 3:11:49 PM9/20/20
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On Sun, 20 Sep 2020, Paul Robinson wrote:

>> And let thy Spirit within me rest [doesn't scan!]
>
> One of my church choirs, years ago, did something Renaissance-y with a
> scansion issue like this. The director claimed pronouncing it as
> "Sp'rit" (one syllable) was the way to go. It did fix the scansion, and
> he seemed to think there was historical basis for doing it that way.
> --paulr

As someone who has an interest in linguistics, I think he's right.

-uso.

Carlton, David L

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Sep 20, 2020, 3:33:55 PM9/20/20
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Thomas Tallis, “If Ye Love Me.”  That’s how it’s done.

 

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